Is Natural Gas Renewable? Everything You Should Know About RNG In 2023!
Is natural gas renewable? Trust me on this, a lot of people often ask for the answer to this question. If you have been searching for the same, you have reached the right place.
There are a number of things that people are choosing over other elements only to make the world a better and healthier place to live in. And one of these is choosing a more sustainable lifestyle. The inhabitants of the world are choosing other sources of energy. However, there are some that are, till now, irreplaceable. And one of them is natural gas.
In case you want to know if natural gas is a renewable source of energy or not, you will find this article to be of help. Keep reading this blog till the end to learn more…
Natural Gas
Before talking about “is natural gas renewable or nonrenewable,” it is important that you learn a little about what is natural gas. So here I go!
Natural gas, otherwise called fossil gas or just gas, is a combination of gaseous hydrocarbons that occur naturally fundamentally made out of methane and other higher alkanes in smaller amounts.
As natural gas is colorless and odorless, odorizers like mercaptan, which smells like sulfur or rotten eggs, are frequently added to natural gas supplies for safety reasons to make it easy to spot leaks. Low levels of trace gasses like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, and hydrogen sulfide are also common in natural gas.
What Are Renewable Sources Of Energy?
Renewable resources include sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy is energy that is produced from renewable resources that are naturally replenished in the earth on a human timescale.
Although most renewable energy sources are sustainable, some are not. For instance, some biomass sources are viewed as impractical at flow paces of exploitation.
Environmentally friendly power is frequently utilized for power age, warming and cooling. Large-scale renewable energy projects are ideal for developing nations and rural and remote areas where energy is frequently essential to human development.
As per the International Energy Agency, this is how they describe he renewable energy:
“Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.”
Answering The Question, “Is Natural Gas Renewable?”
Natural gas is one of the biggest energy sources used to control our homes and organizations at present. While it is a popular energy source, it does have some drawbacks.
Natural gas is made from fossil fuels which were trapped deep under the surface of the earth. These take millions of years to form and hence, they are non-renewable. So, In case you were searching for the answer to “is natural gas renewable,” the answer is NO!
By definition, renewable energy sources come from naturally recurrent, auto-replenishing processes. Natural Gas is a fossil energy source that will not be replenished in our lifetime or indeed many, many human lifetimes. To put things in perspective, methane, the primary compound of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas that accounts for 3% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
What Is Renewable Natural Gas?
Now, you must have heard about the term Renewable Natural Gas. While it may sound a little odd at first, considering the fact that natural gas is a non-renewable energy source, here me out to get things a little clear.
Renewable natural gas (RNG), also known as biomethane or sustainable natural gas (SNG), is a type of biogas that has been improved to a quality comparable to that of fossil natural gas. What makes it so good is the fact that it contains at least 90% methane.
So, what changes because of this increase in the percentage of methane?
It becomes possible to distribute the gas to customers through the existing gas grid and use it in existing appliances by increasing the concentration of methane to a level that is comparable to that of natural gas.
In other words, renewable natural gas is a subset of synthetic or substitute natural gas (SNG). It is a term that is used to describe or refer to an upgraded biogas. “The biogas used to produce RNG comes from a variety of sources, including municipal solid waste landfills, digesters at water resource recovery facilities (wastewater treatment plants), livestock farms, food production facilities and organic waste management operations,” according to sources.
Benefits of Renewable Natural Gas
There are a number of ways in which renewable natural gas can be of great help to the people and to the world. Here are some of the benefits that you can have when using RNG.
Take a look at these:
1. Improves Air Quality
RNG can significantly reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions, improving local air quality, as opposed to conventional diesel or gasoline. Methane makes up the majority of RNG. Renewable Natural Gas, in contrast to fossil natural gas, contains no or very little ethane, propane, butane, pentane, or other trace hydrocarbons.
2. Reduction in the emission of greenhouse gasses
Anaerobic digestion (AD) or landfill methane is captured and recovered by RNG projects. Because methane has a potential to cause global warming that is more than 25 times greater than that of CO2 and has a relatively short life in the atmosphere (12 years), reducing these emissions can have a positive impact on reducing global climate change in the near future. An RNG project has the potential to significantly reduce methane emissions from facilities that are not already required to mitigate these emissions.
3. Economic benefits
Through the sale of vehicles powered by natural gas and the construction of RNG processing and fueling station infrastructure, the development of RNG projects can benefit the local economy. Depending on the end use, incentives may be offered at the national, state, and local levels, such as credits for the production of RNG fuel for vehicles. Project development may benefit from additional economic stimuli provided by these financial incentives.
Wrapping It Up!
In case you were searching for the answer to “is natural gas renewable,” I hope that this article has been of help to you. If there are any other queries related to the same, please feel free to let me know.
All that you need to do is scroll down till you reach the bottom of the page. Then leave your suggestions and doubts, and share your thoughts in the comment box below. And I will be there to answer them all for you!
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